Our nation has a choice – a future where those in need have the opportunity to succeed or a future dependent upon welfare. I believe in helping people get back on their feet and creating a sense of personal responsibility for those seeking assistance – that is the purpose of the work requirements found within the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program created by the groundbreaking bipartisan welfare reform of the 90s.

While veteran’s benefits are considered equal by VA regardless of when a veteran served, there may be significant differences in the veteran and family awareness of these awards based upon the time period in which the vet served.

With President Obama’s speech on Thursday night of this week, both national political conventions for 2012 will have passed into history.
With the weeks narrowing until Election Day on Nov. 6, the pace of campaigning will pick up; whatever undecided voters are left will begin to think hard.

I normally complete my column by Friday so that the editor has time to read and approve it. Neil Armstrong died on a weekend, and Tom focused the editorial on that. Now, it’s my turn to write something because the moon landing was a big event from my past, and in some ways it seems like it was just last year. Armstrong’s death reminded me of just how long ago that was. Forty-three years ago! Wow, I’m really getting old!

he Republicans had their day in the sun down in Tampa last week; the spotlight is on the Democrats this week in Charlotte.
And on Friday, following the last speech at the convention Thursday night, the countdown to election day is officially on.
For Virginians, that’s a good-news, bad-news scenario.

Ruth Crouch, Bedford’s famous “Pie Lady,” turned 75 on Aug. 29 and the folks at Backstage Salon on South Bridge Street in Bedford gave her a little birthday celebration.

Crouch, who formerly managed D. Reynolds before it closed at the end of last year has set up her sewing shop, doing alterations, at Backstage.
“We wanted her to be with us so we could keep an eye on her,” said Annette Goad, who manages the salon.

Bedford has the National D-Day Memorial, dedicated to keeping alive the memory of the men who landed on D-Day, on June 6, 1944, and fought in the hedgerows of Normandy that summer.

France, in turn, hosts 15,000 graves of American soldiers who died in that fighting. There, a French organization called Association Les Fleurs de la Memoire, is dedicated to keeping the memory alive by regularly placing flowers on these graves.